From the town manager to lifeguards clad in their shorts and tank tops, the Saltville Town Council chambers were crowded Tuesday night with town employees fearful of losing their jobs. Their anxiety was legitimate, not because the town couldn’t afford to pay their wages, but because the council couldn’t agree on a budget that state law required to be in place by July 1.

Tom Burkett is convinced that eliminating county vehicle decals is the right path for Smyth County to take, and Monday the Smyth County treasurer pledged to continue his campaign in favor of that goal.

Following on the success of their blood drives last fall, Johnston Memorial Hospital Blood Bank and Wings Air Rescue will hold a third blood drive and community event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Walmart in Marion July 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Filling the wall of bleachers in Sugar Grove Combined School’s hot gym Monday night, the small community’s residents vented their frustrations, demanded answers and asked for help as they struggle to figure out how to make an 18-month boil-water notice part of their daily lives.

United Way of Smyth County has completed its allocation of funds to its supported human service agencies, and reports requests outpaced available funding.

One never knows from where the heart’s next passion, or the hands’ newest work, will come.

A senior security officer at Southwest Virginia Mental Health Institute faces a trio of sex crime charges involving a juvenile, court records show.

Rail Solution has launched a grassroots campaign urging Gov. Timothy Kaine to overturn a decision by his commerce secretary that blocks the Virginia Department of Transportation from accepting federal grant funding for a Steel Interstate study.Rail Solution retained the Virginia Organizing Project to distribute a bulletin asking recipients “to urge Governor Tim Kaine to overrule his Secretary of Transportation.” The bulletin said VDOT Secretary Pierce Homer last month blocked the agency’s receipt of “a federal grant for the study even if Congress were to authorize one.”

Jensen Apparel began its second week in its new, expanded location Monday as sewing machines whirred inside the former Acme Market in Chilhowie where three positions remained to be filled.

Candidacy filings, the Democratic primary and Republican convention are past and the slate of candidates is in place for the board of supervisors and, with one exception, the school board, that Smyth County voters will consider Nov. 3.